Consensys has stated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has notified the company that it will end its investigation into Ethereum 2.0. The SEC’s decision came after Consensys issued a request letter, which sought clarification on whether the SEC’s approval of Ethereum futures ETF included Ethereum attributes.
Consensys described this as a “major victory for the industry”, with a tweet stating: “Ethereum is spared from SEC scrutiny, meaning the SEC will not charge ETH sales as securities transactions. Our letter sent on June 7 requested the SEC to confirm that the prerequisite for the approval of the May Ethereum ETF is that ETH is a commodity. The end of the Ethereum investigation is significant, but it is not a cure-all for many blockchain developers, technology providers, and industry participants who have suffered from the SEC’s illegal and aggressive crypto enforcement.”
ConsenSys received a Wells Notice from the SEC on April 10 and subsequently decided to proactively sue the SEC, with the following demands:
– Federal court declares ETH is not a security.
– MetaMask’s staking service does not violate securities laws.
– MetaMask is not a broker under federal law.
Consensys’ lawsuit is still ongoing, with FOX reporter Eleanor Terrett tweeting that the SEC has not yet charged Consensys for the violations raised in the Wells Notice, which include MetaMask’s swap trading and staking functions. Charges may be formally filed in the coming days or weeks.
Consensys also stated in the announcement:
“Our fight continues, and we will demonstrate in the lawsuit that the features provided by the interface software MetaMask, such as Swaps and staking, do not violate securities laws, and regulatory clarity should not be provided through litigation.”
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